He Lives in You
by ElectricLioness
Summary: It all started with a little, minor suggestion by Kovu, to which Simba gladly accepted. And somehow, it turned into a battle that leaves many speechless, including the lost prince, Kopa. Rated T for minor/not very descriptive violence and implied rape/sex in later chapters. Slightly OOC characters (mainly Nala and Simba), but that's because they're older.
1. Chapter 1

Lightning sparked and sizzled as the dark-pelted lion stepped forward, a snide smirk on his thin, black lips. The thunder crackling in the clouds above gave out low rumbles, shaking the earth with each deep roar that echoed throughout the PrideLands. Wind rippled through Kovu's dark mane while he narrowed his emerald eyes, waiting for the king to let loose his loud, thundering roar of challenge, implying that he'd accepted the daring request from his son-in-law: a battle to the death. A battle for the throne; a battle for the lovely status of king. The prince-consort didn't want to be just a prince-consort. He wanted to be oh, so much more ... he wanted to be the king. How the lionesses would crowd him if he won this fight - oh, how they would grovel at the new king's paws. Oh, how they would swoon everytime he tossed them a carefree glance with his handsomely scarred eye. The roar of the (soon to be dead) king rang out through the lands. And Kovu just snickered, a nearly silent sound that was lost in the rumbling on the ground, the hissing of the flashing bolts of electricity, and the rushing force that blasted from the clouds, blowing anything in its path.

The king felt a chill run down his spine as he stepped out of the Pride Rock cave. Simba shook his mane, giving another roar; to which Kovu responded to with one of his own. A bold sound, a roar of challenge was rarely heard in the "peaceful" PrideLands. King Simba inhaled and exhaled precious sips of breath, as if they might've been some of his last. And the way Kovu was thinking, they very well were likely to be. After a few careful moments of silence, Simba finally spoke up, gulping down a breath before speaking.

"Are you ready, K - Kovu?" The king's voice trembled as he stepped forward, attempting to keep a solemn, hard expression. His eyes narrowed in contempt when he realized what he was going to have to do, if he wanted to keep his life and his kingdom. One of the two males wasn't going to return to Pride Rock in the morning. No matter what, one of them had to die - and the other walked away with the throne. Could Kovu really kill him? It was what the dark-pelted male had been trained to do; kill the King of the PrideLands. He probably knew all of the golden-pelted male's weaknesses and strengths ... after all, hadn't Zira known where Simba was weakest? She was his aunt ... his uncle's mate, the mate that Simba always feared. "... Kovu, I'm not looking too forward to this. I hope that something good comes out of this duel, no matter which one of us dies. May the best lion win!"

"Oh, I'm planning on it," Kovu murmured under his breath, letting the words be lost in the swirling winds. He smirked, repeating the last words that Simba had spoken ... "Oh, yes ... may the best lion win, Simba!" And then their battle began, at first beginning with the two lions circling each other, searching for a weakness as they stepped carefully. But soon they were delivering small hits, hardly drawing blood. Simba's cuts were hasty and quick, causing nothing but a mere, weak stab of pain for Kovu - stabs that were over in seconds. Kovu's slaps, on the other hand, were becoming larger and longer, making the elder lion stumble every time he was struck by the claws that had killed him in a nightmare once. "Age is not treating you well, King Simba," Kovu snickered, barely audible. "It's time a new reign began!"

With a single strike, the younger lion brought the older lion down to the earth, mud splattering the once beautiful golden pelt. His red eyes were unfocused, vision blurry as he gasped, the pain in the king's chest increasing as he was brought, rather suddenly, down to the dirty ground. He attempted to form small, simple words, but his gasps were blocking out all tries at speech. Kovu's lips curled in a smirk, forming the evil grin his adoptive father had bore all too many times. Memories were flowing at a steady pace in front of Simba's eyes - all of his uncle.

"I have news for you, old geezer," Kovu chuckled, pushing his paw onto Simba's throat. The old lion coughed and spluttered, failing to get a hold on his breath. He would be alive for only a couple of minutes longer. "Zira, Nuka and Scar are still alive ... even after you and your family thought that you killed them. Also, I have another bombshell to drop, I'm afraid ..." Harsh, cruel laughter filled the air as Kovu threw his head back, laughing without any humor. "Nala will be my mate, and her two daughters, Vitani and Kiara ... well, they'll always have room, won't they?" With those words lingering in the air, the young, agile lion scraped his claws against the neck he had been holding moments before, protected by a thick mane. The red fur was torn by fangs and claws easily - soon the golden pelt followed, and the king lay dead on the ground.

Kovu panted, exhilarated at his victory and last words before Simba died, passing on into the stars. A smile spread slowly on his bloody muzzle, crimson blood oozing down from it from the bites he'd dealt to Simba. Oh, what a lovely reign he'd have; with the ex-mate of Simba as his queen-consort.

Life was good.


	2. Chapter 2

A dark, reddish-brown mane blew in the rippling wind, being tossed around by the striking force. Lightning bolts shook the ground, flashing right in his blue-green eyes as the male stepped forward, snarling at the sight of the snooty, dark-pelted male who had just killed his father and taken the throne. A tyrant ... just like his adoptive father, the notorious Scar; a lion who had supposedly come back from the dead, although he never was dead. Alongside his mate, Scar had returned to the Elephant Graveyard and picked a new Chosen One: the lost prince, the son of Simba himself. A whole hyena clan had returned to the Elephant Graveyard as well, keeping an eye on the Dark Lion.

"Bastards," Kopa spat, baring his sharp, blood-streaked teeth in a dark smile. He would be happy to spill his brother-in-law's blood - in fact, he'd be absolutely high on glee if he'd get to kill the bastard himself. The two had used to be friends, Kovu and Kopa (plus Kopa's half-sister, Vitani) ... but then they had been reminded of why their friendship could never be when Zira, the adoptive mother of Kovu and Vitani, had tried to kill the prince. After that, when Kopa had run far, far from the PrideLands, he'd sparked a friendship with the rogue, Boga. And the two were mates, for a brief while, but Kopa couldn't handle being a father - so he had run away from the quaint jungle one night, and hidden out in the famed Shadowlands. Now, he was back to claim the lands that he'd never had a chance at having. From the moment of his birth, Simba had ignored the cub, claiming he and his younger brother Naba looked too much like Scar. "I'll avenge you, Father, even if you never gave a damn about me. I will kill Kovu and take the throne I always deserved."

When he looked up, a new star glittered among the night sky, sparkling brighter than any other. Without a doubt in his mind, the lost prince knew it was his father's. And one way or another, he would claim his lands ... the lands that belonged to his father, until Scar's grandson, Kovu, had to come along and ruin everything. He had to have his way; he had to be a king, and not the mere prince-consort he would've been had he kept with tradition and actually performed the mating ceremony as it was supposed to be done. Instead, he and Kiara's ceremony broke many ancient laws, making Kopa scowl as he watched it from afar. With a bitter glance towards the PrideLands, the lion raced back to the Graveyard to confirm the hyenas' fears: the king was dead, and Kovu had killed him.

* * *

A bloody, battered corpse lay on the ground, indistinguishable as the Great King Simba. Red and gold fur blended on the ground; Kovu had stolen a fair amount of the furs, wearing them around his neck in a brightly colored necklace crafted by Rafiki. The mandrill had been the first to learn of Simba's defeat, and only he knew who the king's killer was. Rafiki had been forced to create the necklace; and no one else knew why Kovu decided to wear it. They speculated it was because he felt guilt over Simba's death - as the cover story was that two rogues had entered the lands and killed the king while Kovu watched, helpless, but then felt the strength to kill the two rogues - but only Nala felt that something was wrong with the story of her mate's death. Kovu claimed that Simba's last words were "please ... take my position as king" ... but there was no way that the lion would've stayed alive long enough to croak out those words. And anyway, he would've passed the throne down onto Kiara, his heir, wouldn't he have? Nala had not been informed of her mateship to Kovu yet, at least not until a week after Simba's death.

Kovu had sauntered in, his dark gaze immediately catching the winks of several lionesses. They all assumed that Kiara was his queen, not just his queen-consort, as she was of royal blood and was mated to Kovu, but that, apparently, was not the case ... the dark-pelted lion quickly stepped over to Nala, smirking as he hovered over her. Gasps echoed along the cave walls as the lion pushed the lioness onto her back, pinning her down onto the cold rocky floor. His emerald eyes were dark as he leaned forward, whispering something in her ear and then stepping back, a solid, snide smirk on his lips. Her eyes widened and she cried out as his dark words swarmed in her head, not going away anytime soon.

"You will be my mate," he had hissed with contempt, and the former queen-consort felt doubts squirm within her stomach. She gasped, trying to control her emotions - at any normal time, she would've pushed him away and run far, far away from that cave, but she was just too shocked to do anything. Wasn't Kiara his mate? "You will rule beside me as queen-consort, just as you were before, with your precious mate ... Simba. I want to prove that I'm just as good a king as Simba - prove that since I took his throne, I can take his mate as well. Come with me, sweetheart, and I'll spill all the details."

So that was why she was standing in a cold, damp cave, one she recognized as Scar's. It made her freeze in her tracks when she had realized where they were going ... Scar's little den, the one his mate had kept when Simba's reign had begun. But she kept walking, shivering from the bitter cold winds and the not-so-gentle breeze rolling under her furry overcoat, pressing against her light skin. Kovu didn't seem to feel the cold; he strode with absolute confidence, convinced that his calm, cool nature as king was attracting all the females. In a way, it was - all the females except Sarabi, Sarafina, Nala and some of the other older lionesses.

Facing Nala, Kovu smirked. His emerald eyes glittered as he spoke, revealing the horrible facts that he himself had murdered the king, and that was why he had received the throne instead of Kiara. It horrified Nala even more that Simba had agreed to the battle - a duel to the death. Soon something more than doubt was bubbling in her stomach. She remembered being shoved down onto the ground by Kovu, her head slamming against the cave floor as she was forced hastily onto the ground. Then her vision faded into black, eyes watering with pain as shiny, sharp black claws gripped her head, pulling it backwards slightly.


End file.
